Of all the FBBers, Bev probably made the greatest transformation to her body of any weight-trained woman ever!!!!

I recall her appearing on the CBS "Wide World of Sports" TV show in the early 80's and even a veteran iron-gamer like me, who had seen the likes of Abbye Stockton in person, recoiled "in shock" at Bev's bulky, heavily-muscled, "masculine look" as a 180 lb.+ powerlifter.

Seeing Bev looking "so masculine" didn't help me push the benefits of "weight-training for girls/women" to my teen, and sub-teen, age daughters, in those days!!

As the movie Pumping Iron II so clearly documented, Bev's transition from a 180 lb+ powerlifter to an approx. 145 lb. "excessively muscular" FBBer (for her time!) was remarkable, and clearly made the point that despite Bev's apparent external masculine muscularity/appearance, Bev was "all-woman" inside (where it REALLY counts)!

But, Bev PERSISTED in her BB goals and by the '88 Ms. Olympia, with an added "nose-job", blonde hair-coloring, and additional HARD, DEDICATED, WORK in sculpting her body, Bev displayed a lot of "feminine muscularity", and her total physical transformation from her early-80's powerlifting days was absolutely remarkable!!

Yes, Bev has "done it all" in the iron-game...becoming one of the strongest women in the world (BP: 300 lbs.+ AND a SQ and DL of 500 lbs.+ at a time when NO OTHER woman in the world, with the exception of Jan Todd on ONLY the SQ and DL, could approach her 3 powerlifting records); an accomplished top-level IFBB Ms. Olympia competitor/place-winner; successful gym owner; wife and mother of two children (I believe two?).

Yes, it would be hard for any girl/woman to find a better role-model of raw strength, determination, persistence, and the ability to TRANSFORM one's body than Bev Francis...clearly proving the old saying, "where there's a WILL there's a WAY"!!

I recall her appearing on the CBS "Wide World of Sports" TV show in the early 80's and even a veteran iron-gamer like me, who had seen the likes of Abbye Stockton in person, recoiled "in shock" at Bev's bulky, heavily-muscled, "masculine look" as a 180 lb.+ powerlifter.

She was a shotputter, first and foremost just not quite as good as her training partner Gael Mulhall (she is in bed with Nigel Martin at the start of pumping iron 2.)

She did not hang out with powerlifters but trained with what were the strongest women in the western world in the mid 70's in Melbourne... long before women's powerlifting became flavour of the month on OSQ, and womens bodybuilding included best chest awards.